Abstract

This thesis explores students’ drinking behaviour in nightlife settings. In many parts of the world, much of the burden of alcohol is related to risky alcohol consumption amongst students, which often occurs during a night out, including during pre-drinking (drinking at home or other private settings before going out). In several countries, creating a safer nightlife environment has become synonymous with reducing levels of violence, injury and other health problems associated with high levels of alcohol use. This research was conducted in England, where policies and interventions to prevent nightlife-related harms have been implemented, and in Brazil, where there is no well-established prevention activity in place. A high prevalence of pre-drinking and related harms can be found across many countries, including Brazil and the UK. Hence, it is important to understand this phenomenon in more detail considering the different policy and cultural factors that might affect such behaviour, in order to inform effective policies and practices aimed at preventing and reducing pre-drinking and its associated harms across countries with diverse nightlife environments and drinking cultures. Thus, a mixed-method research study was undertaken, comprising a survey, completed by 1,151 Brazilian university students and 424 UK university students, and focus group interviews with 25 Brazilian students currently living in the UK, aimed at exploring cross-cultural differences in drinking behaviours within nightlife settings from a socio-ecological perspective. Differences in the prevalence of pre-drinking and alcohol consumption were found between Brazilian and UK respondents. The findings suggested that more UK students pre-drink, yet Brazilian students drink more than UK students when they do pre-drink. Students’ attitudes and perceptions towards existing alcohol policies (e.g. drink-drive incidents; restrictions on alcohol sales and drunk and disorderly behaviour) differed between the two countries, which might have an influence on their drinking behaviour in a nightlife context. Brazilian students’ views suggested that the UK’s heavy drinking culture is influenced by the interaction of many factors, including the perceived British students’ cultural drinking norms focused on drinking large amounts of alcohol when compared with Brazilian students and the fact that according to Brazilian participants’ views British students have more positive outcome expectations towards drunkenness. Brazilian participants’ views also iii suggested that the acceptance of drunkenness amongst students is higher in the UK, with an emphasis on British students intentionally getting extremely drunk for entertainment. For Brazilian participants getting drunk was suggested not to be a priority for having a good night out, rather it was perceived to be a consequence for losing control of drinking. Moreover, Brazilian students’ perceived effectiveness of alcohol policy also differed between the two countries, with emphasis on lax law enforcement in Brazil. Effective policies targeted towards reducing drunkenness and its risks within nightlife settings need to be put in place particularly in Brazil, where law implementation and strict enforcement are not the rules, resulting in a culture of drinking that can be harmful to university students.